New Neko And Alison Albums

I like them both. Neither are as good as the last albums though, but eh... whatever.

The Neko album is live and much more country then Blacklisted. I keep humming songs from it. She mostly covers old country tunes. My favorites are If You Knew, Soulful Shade of Blue, and Hex. The other songs are great too, but you have to be a fairly die-hard Neko fan to really enjoy them, I think.

The Alison CD is growing on me, but I thought it was pretty bland at first. It's a decent enough album, but nothing really stands out. The songs all kind of run together, all equally good, except for the Ron Block song which I hate. (Let's face it, Ron Block is the Ringo of Union Station.) Also, they're gradually becoming a little more easy-listening than I'd hoped. If it can happen to the Stones, then I guess it can happen to anyone. If I had to pick my favorite songs, I guess I'd pick the first few -- Gravity and their radio release Restless. The song Dan Tyminski sings is definitely the most Bluegrass-y of all of them -- Rain Please Go Away. It's probably the best song. Still making up my mind.

Silly me, I forgot to mention the albums names! The Neko Case album is The Tigers Have Spoken, and the Alison Krauss and Union Station album is Lonely Runs Both Ways.